Background:
For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the
world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the
country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign
occupation. After World War II, the Communists under MAO Zedong established an
autocratic socialist system that, while ensuring China's sovereignty, imposed
strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of
people. After 1978, MAO's successor DENG Xiaoping and other leaders focused on
market-oriented economic development and by 2000 output had quadrupled. For much
of the population, living standards have improved dramatically and the room for
personal choice has expanded, yet political controls remain tight. China since
the early 1990s has increased its global outreach and participation in
international organizations.

Geography - China

Location:
Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South
China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam

Natural hazards:
frequent typhoons (about five per year along southern and eastern coasts);
damaging floods; tsunamis; earthquakes; droughts; land subsidence

Environment - current issues:
air pollution (greenhouse gases, sulfur dioxide particulates) from reliance on
coal produces acid rain; water shortages, particularly in the north; water
pollution from untreated wastes; deforestation; estimated loss of one-fifth of
agricultural land since 1949 to soil erosion and economic development;
desertification; trade in endangered species

National holiday:
Anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, 1 October (1949)

Constitution:
most recent promulgation 4 December 1982 with amendments in 1988, 1993, 2004

Legal system:
based on civil law system; derived from Soviet and continental civil code legal
principles; legislature retains power to interpret statutes; constitution
ambiguous on judicial review of legislation; has not accepted compulsory ICJ
jurisdiction

Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:
chief of state: President HU Jintao (since 15 March 2003); Vice President XI
Jinping (since 15 March 2008)
head of government: Premier WEN Jiabao (since 16 March 2003); Executive Vice
Premier LI Keqiang (17 March 2008), Vice Premier HUI Liangyu (since 17 March
2003), Vice Premier ZHANG Deijiang (since 17 March 2008), and Vice Premier WANG
Qishan (since 17 March 2008)
cabinet: State Council appointed by National People's Congress
(For more information visit the World Leaders website )
elections: president and vice president elected by National People's Congress
for a five-year term (eligible for a second term); elections last held on 15-17
March 2008 (next to be held in mid-March 2013); premier nominated by president,
confirmed by National People's Congress
election results: HU Jintao elected president by National People's Congress with
a total of 2,963 votes; XI Jinping elected vice president with a total of 2,919
votes

Legislative branch:
unicameral National People's Congress or Quanguo Renmin Daibiao Dahui (2,987
seats; members elected by municipal, regional, and provincial people's
congresses, and People's Liberation Army to serve five-year terms)
elections: last held in December 2007-February 2008 (date of next election to be
held in late 2012 to early 2013)
election results: percent of vote - NA; seats - 2,987
note: only members of the CCP, its eight allied parties, and sympathetic
independent candidates are elected

Flag description:
red with a large yellow five-pointed star and four smaller yellow five-pointed
stars (arranged in a vertical arc toward the middle of the flag) in the upper
hoist-side corner; the color red represents revolution, while the stars
symbolize the four social classes - the working class, the peasantry, the urban
petty bourgeoisie, and the national bourgeoisie (capitalists) - united under the
Communist Party of China

Economy - China

Economy - overview:
China's economy during the past 30 years has changed from a centrally planned
system that was largely closed to international trade to a more market-oriented
economy that has a rapidly growing private sector and is a major player in the
global economy. Reforms started in the late 1970s with the phasing out of
collectivized agriculture, and expanded to include the gradual liberalization of
prices, fiscal decentralization, increased autonomy for state enterprises, the
foundation of a diversified banking system, the development of stock markets,
the rapid growth of the non-state sector, and the opening to foreign trade and
investment. Annual inflows of foreign direct investment rose to nearly $108
billion in 2008. China has generally implemented reforms in a gradualist or
piecemeal fashion. In recent years, China has re-invigorated its support for
leading state-owned enterprises in sectors it considers important to "economic
security," explicitly looking to foster globally competitive national champions.
After keeping its currency tightly linked to the US dollar for years, China in
July 2005 revalued its currency by 2.1% against the US dollar and moved to an
exchange rate system that references a basket of currencies. Cumulative
appreciation of the renminbi against the US dollar since the end of the dollar
peg was more than 20% by late 2008, but the exchange rate has remained virtually
pegged since the onset of the global financial crisis. The restructuring of the
economy and resulting efficiency gains have contributed to a more than tenfold
increase in GDP since 1978. Measured on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis
that adjusts for price differences, China in 2009 stood as the second-largest
economy in the world after the US, although in per capita terms the country is
still lower middle-income. The Chinese government faces numerous economic
development challenges, including: (a) reducing its high domestic savings rate
and correspondingly low domestic demand through increased corporate transfers
and a strengthened social safety net; (b) sustaining adequate job growth for
tens of millions of migrants and new entrants to the work force; (c) reducing
corruption and other economic crimes; and (d) containing environmental damage
and social strife related to the economy's rapid transformation. Economic
development has been more rapid in coastal provinces than in the interior, and
approximately 200 million rural laborers and their dependents have relocated to
urban areas to find work. One demographic consequence of the "one child" policy
is that China is now one of the most rapidly aging countries in the world.
Deterioration in the environment - notably air pollution, soil erosion, and the
steady fall of the water table, especially in the north - is another long-term
problem. China continues to lose arable land because of erosion and economic
development. In 2006, China announced that by 2010 it would decrease energy
intensity 20% from 2005 levels. In 2009, China announced that by 2020 it would
reduce carbon intensity 40% from 2005 levels. The Chinese government seeks to
add energy production capacity from sources other than coal and oil, and is
focusing on nuclear and other alternative energy development. In 2009, the
global economic downturn reduced foreign demand for Chinese exports for the
first time in many years. The government vowed to continue reforming the economy
and emphasized the need to increase domestic consumption in order to make China
less dependent on foreign exports for GDP growth in the future.

Telephones - main lines in use:
365.6 million (2007)
country comparison to the world: 1

Telephones - mobile cellular:
634 million (2008)
country comparison to the world: 1

Telephone system:
general assessment: domestic and international services are increasingly
available for private use; unevenly distributed domestic system serves principal
cities, industrial centers, and many towns; China continues to develop its
telecommunications infrastructure, and is partnering with foreign providers to
expand its global reach; China in the summer of 2008 began a major restructuring
of its telecommunications industry, resulting in the consolidation of its six
telecom service operators to three, China Telecom, China Mobile and China
Unicom, each providing both fixed-line and mobile services
domestic: interprovincial fiber-optic trunk lines and cellular telephone systems
have been installed; mobile-cellular subscribership is increasing rapidly; the
number of Internet users exceeded 250 million by summer 2008; a domestic
satellite system with 55 earth stations is in place
international: country code - 86; a number of submarine cables provide
connectivity to Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the US; satellite earth
stations - 7 (5 Intelsat - 4 Pacific Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean; 1 Intersputnik -
Indian Ocean region; and 1 Inmarsat - Pacific and Indian Ocean regions) (2008)

Radio broadcast stations:
AM 369, FM 259, shortwave 45 (1998)

Television broadcast stations:
3,240 (of which 209 are operated by China Central Television, 31 are provincial
TV stations, and nearly 3,000 are local city stations) (1997)

Internet country code:
.cn

Internet hosts:
14.156 million (2009)
country comparison to the world: 7

Military service age and obligation:
18-22 years of age for selective compulsory military service, with 24-month
service obligation; no minimum age for voluntary service (all officers are
volunteers); 18-19 years of age for women high school graduates who meet
requirements for specific military jobs; in 2010, a decision was made to allow
women in combat roles (2010)

Manpower available for military service:
males age 16-49: 381,747,145
females age 16-49: 360,385,629 (2010 est.)

Military expenditures:
4.3% of GDP (2006)
country comparison to the world: 23

Transnational Issues - China

Disputes - international:
continuing talks and confidence-building measures work toward reducing tensions
over Kashmir that nonetheless remains militarized with portions under the de
facto administration of China (Aksai Chin), India (Jammu and Kashmir), and
Pakistan (Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas); India does not recognize Pakistan's
ceding historic Kashmir lands to China in 1964; China and India continue their
security and foreign policy dialogue started in 2005 related to the dispute over
most of their rugged, militarized boundary, regional nuclear proliferation, and
other matters; China claims most of India's Arunachal Pradesh to the base of the
Himalayas; lacking any treaty describing the boundary, Bhutan and China continue
negotiations to establish a common boundary alignment to resolve territorial
disputes due to cartographic discrepancies; Chinese maps show an international
boundary symbol off the coasts of the littoral states of the South China Seas,
where China has interrupted Vietnamese hydrocarbon exploration; China asserts
sovereignty over Scarborough Reef along with the Philippines and Taiwan, and
over the Spratly Islands together with Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan,
Vietnam, and Brunei; the 2002 "Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the
South China Sea" eased tensions in the Spratly's but is not the legally binding
"code of conduct" sought by some parties; Vietnam and China continue to expand
construction of facilities in the Spratly's and in March 2005, the national oil
companies of China, the Philippines, and Vietnam signed a joint accord on marine
seismic activities in the Spratly Islands; China occupies some of the Paracel
Islands also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan; China and Taiwan continue to reject
both Japan's claims to the uninhabited islands of Senkaku-shoto (Diaoyu Tai) and
Japan's unilaterally declared equidistance line in the East China Sea, the site
of intensive hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation; certain islands in the
Yalu and Tumen rivers are in dispute with North Korea; North Korea and China
seek to stem illegal migration to China by North Koreans, fleeing privations and
oppression, by building a fence along portions of the border and imprisoning
North Koreans deported by China; China and Russia have demarcated the once
disputed islands at the Amur and Ussuri confluence and in the Argun River in
accordance with their 2004 Agreement; China and Tajikistan have begun
demarcating the revised boundary agreed to in the delimitation of 2002; the
decade-long demarcation of the China-Vietnam land boundary was completed in
2009; citing environmental, cultural, and social concerns, China has
reconsidered construction of 13 dams on the Salween River, but energy-starved
Burma, with backing from Thailand, remains intent on building five
hydro-electric dams downstream despite regional and international protests;
Chinese and Hong Kong authorities met in March 2008 to resolve ownership and use
of lands recovered in Shenzhen River channelization, including 96-hectare Lok Ma
Chau Loop; Hong Kong developing plans to reduce 2,000 out of 2,800 hectares of
its restricted Closed Area by 2010

Trafficking in persons:
current situation: China is a source, transit, and destination country for men,
women, and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and
forced labor; the majority of trafficking in China occurs within the country's
borders, but there is also considerable international trafficking of Chinese
citizens to Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and North
America; Chinese women are lured abroad through false promises of legitimate
employment, only to be forced into commercial sexual exploitation, largely in
Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, and Japan; women and children are trafficked to
China from Mongolia, Burma, North Korea, Russia, and Vietnam for forced labor,
marriage, and prostitution; some North Korean women and children seeking to
leave their country voluntarily cross the border into China and are then sold
into prostitution, marriage, or forced labor
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - China is on the Tier 2 Watch List for the
fourth consecutive year for its failure to provide evidence of increasing
efforts to combat human trafficking, particularly in terms of punishment of
trafficking crimes and the protection of Chinese and foreign victims of
trafficking; victims are sometimes punished for unlawful acts that were
committed as a direct result of their being trafficked, such as violations of
prostitution or immigration/emigration controls; the Chinese Government
continued to treat North Korean victims of trafficking solely as economic
migrants, routinely deporting them back to horrendous conditions in North Korea;
additional challenges facing the Chinese Government include the enormous size of
its trafficking problem and the significant level of corruption and complicity
in trafficking by some local government officials (2008)

Illicit drugs:
major transshipment point for heroin produced in the Golden Triangle region of
Southeast Asia; growing domestic consumption of synthetic drugs, and heroin from
Southeast and Southwest Asia; source country for methamphetamine and heroin
chemical precursors, despite new regulations on its large chemical industry
(2008)